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Substance abuse

ScaseyContributor01 May 2019, 8:34 pm AEST

Substance abuse

Id like to touch on substance abuse and mental health perscription drugs.

This is my personal experience and im not reffering to anyone but myself here..

Before my first hospital admission i only drank alcohol occasionally. For the last 10years ive been on antipsychotics i have drank excessively, bindge drinking, i would have black outs all the time. Recently when i had stopped the antipsychotics for 5 months i noticed i didnt want alcohol, the smell of it turned my nose up, i hardly drank at all.

So, i wonder, in my case, was the medication making me feel depressed to the point i would drink to feel better. Was the dose to high, was it the wrong medication for me. Or simply, do antipsychotics depress me and my natural reaction is to drink to fix it? Can anyone else relate to this?

I find this very interesting

Kind regards

6 replies

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In response to: Substance abuse

BunniekinsSenior Contributor02 May 2019, 2:42 am AEST

Re: Substance abuse

Hi @Scasey nice to meet you :). I like alcohol but alcohol does not like me and I have found over the years that I have to not drink at all regardless of medication or not (I am currently on medication). It sounds to me that your medications may have needed adjusting during the period that you were taking them. Getting the right amount and mix of medications is hard and takes time.

Anyway that is me as you say everyone is different and thank god for that :). greenpea

In response to: Substance abuse

BryanaCampSenior Contributor02 May 2019, 1:20 pm AEST

Re: Substance abuse

hi @Scasey

I drink to dampen my extreme anxiety. It's a depressant on the central nervous system so it helps me relax.

Since being on anti-psychotics I drink less because I am less anxious and don't have nightmarish psychotic symptoms & moods so much.

I always try to drink less because alcohol is a strain on the liver and anti-psychotics are broken down in the liver so that is already a lot of work for the liver to do.

Maybe you need to be on an anti-depressant as well as an anti-psychotic. I am to treat my chronic depression.

In response to: Re: Substance abuse

ScaseyContributor03 May 2019, 6:25 am AEST

Re: Substance abuse

Hi greenpea,
Thank you for sharing. I seen a new psychiatrist yesterday and explained this alcohol problem to her and said it should be noted. Now im aware I can monitor it more closely 🙂

In response to: Re: Substance abuse

ScaseyContributor03 May 2019, 6:28 am AEST

Re: Substance abuse

Hi BC, thank you for replying. In my case drinking makes me happy mostly, when im feeling down. It was quiet a surprise to realize how much I did drink over 10 years and then when med free I could hardly finish 1 glass.. At least now im more aware of the issue 🙂

In response to: Substance abuse

Ali11Senior Contributor05 May 2019, 12:53 pm AEST

Re: Substance abuse

Thank you for sharing your story @Scasey and we're so glad to hear that you are aware of your relationship with alcohol. Have you approached your GP to have a look at the correlation between the two?

In response to: Re: Substance abuse

ScaseyContributor06 May 2019, 12:37 pm AEST

Re: Substance abuse

Hi @Ali11, thank you for your reply, no I havnt mentioned it to my GP yet, but I have told both psychologist and psychiatrist, that I want it noted. At least I learned that over the 5 months unmedicated. 🙂

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